A luxury cruise ship carrying 206 passengers and crew has been stuck in Greenland’s cold northern waters since Monday after running aground. The earliest rescue could occur Friday, officials said.
The ship – named the Ocean Explorer and operated by Aurora Expeditions, a cruise line based in Australia – was heading to Alpefjord, which is located in a remote corner of Greenland. The destination was Northeast Greenland National Park, the northernmost national park in the world and home to icebergs, glaciers and high mountains.
The Joint Arctic Command, part of the Danish Armed Forces, said on Facebook on Tuesday that there were no injuries aboard the Ocean Explorer and that there was no threat to the environment. Greenland is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark.
Freeing the ship was a challenge. On Wednesday, a Greenland government fishing research vessel tried unsuccessfully to withdraw the Ocean Explorer at high tide.
The officials said they would resort to other options. The first was awaiting the arrival of a Joint Arctic Command ship expected to arrive near the grounded ship on Friday evening. Bad weather had delayed the flight, officials said, as it was initially expected to come close to the stranded ship on Friday morning.
The crew of the Arctic Command ship, authorities said, “is doing its best to get there as quickly as possible.”
Another option is for the Ocean Explorer to pull itself out when the tide gets high, officials said.
Capt. Brian Jensen of the Arctic Command said in a statement that “we are monitoring the situation closely and are taking this incident very seriously.”
Aurora Expeditions said in a statement that it had “secured the support of other ships in the area should their assistance become necessary.”
“We are actively involved in efforts to free the MV Ocean Explorer from its grounding,” the company said. “Our main commitment is to ensure the recovery of the ship without compromising safety.”
The Joint Arctic Command added that “the crew and passengers are in a difficult situation, but given the circumstances, the atmosphere on the ship is good and everyone on board is fine.”
It is unclear why the ship ran aground near Greenland, which is part of Denmark but has autonomy over most domestic affairs. Officials said there was no indication the ship suffered serious damage to its foundation.
Today, more and more cruises are visiting Greenland’s coast, with tourists looking for a mix of adventure and comfort aboard amenity-packed ships.
The Ocean Explorer is one of them. The ship was built in 2021 and was created to “travel to the most remote destinations in the world,” according to a page about it on the Aurora Expeditions website.
The interior is Scandinavian inspired and it has a gym, a jacuzzi and spacious suites of 60 square meters, offering guests two large bathrooms, a master bedroom and extensive views of the sea.
Photos from the grounded Ocean Explorer on Wednesday showed a blue-and-white ship floating in azure waters with frozen mountain peaks in the distance.
Extreme cold did not appear to be a major problem for stranded passengers on Wednesday: The temperature in the area that night was around 2.2 degrees Celsius, or about 36 degrees Fahrenheit.